By Kristin Tomlinson and Bob Speyer

There are a growing number of social media networks that can help market your business. It’s a good idea to market as many of these sites as possible, but you need to make sure to do it in a productive way that will benefit your business. Here are a few great ways to narrow down your social media choices and segment your online marketplace.

Shoot For Your Target

Traditional media like television and newspapers are created and marketed to attract their target audience. MTV attracts young adults, while the New York Times is aimed at business professionals. Online Social Media is not segmented and is very broad. You have to research to find where your potential audience is. This process can be daunting and overwhelming, but is necessary in order to find the right platform to advertise your product.

Facebook: Since there are numerous ways to market on Facebook, it’s probably the best way to reach the most people. To use Facebook to your advantage, it’s important that the design of your page, content and updates are related to the product you’re trying to sell. If you design wedding dresses, you’re going to want to attract newly engaged couples (specifically, brides-to-be). Form connections, join groups and “like” other pages that have anything to do with the celebration of a wedding. By making contacts with other vendors from florists to caterers to venues, you will increase your exposure and expand your reach to potential clients. This will not only allow you to zoom in on your targeted market, but allow you to gain business opportunities in the process.

Twitter: Twitter is a great site to gain a following. If you want to market and advertise on Twitter, make sure to create proper hashtags and tweets that pertain to your business. Twitter can gain you immediate fans and evangelists if used the right way. If you’re a musician trying to market the release of an album, tweets with song lyrics, upcoming concert dates, album signings and listening parties are great ways to gain momentum. Your hashtags should include things like the #new single, #name of your band, and #name of your album.

Linkedin: Linkedin is mainly created to target business professionals and make business contacts. If you’re looking for new hires, looking for a job or just looking to network with other business professionals, Linkedin is the best social networking site for you. Linkedin is great for marketing if you would like to form networking groups that could be helpful for your business. If you’re a Financial Advisor looking to grow your business and reach prospects, you will want contact related professionals like Accountants, Stock Brokers, and Real Estate Agents.

Your Voice, Your Choice

Whether you want to market through various social media sites or just a few, you need to make the best choice that will give you the most impact. Time is always a consideration, so you need to be as productive and targeted as possible. It never hurts to “test drive” a site first to see what results you can achieve. Analyze the connections you make for quality and content of their responses. This way you can narrow down your choices and decide which social media platforms are worthy of your time and energy.

About the Authors: Kristin Tomlinson and Bob Speyer are online marketers, social media strategists and work for  Web Success Team. You can follow them @websuccess or join the Web Success Team Facebook Page